Black Powder Fun....1800 style

[RanchRoper]

Pedersoli Frontier .50 cal
.490 lead ball with .015 patch
Triple 7 powder, 50 grains

45F and only a slight breeze. A little rain on & off. Had the range to myself for several hours. Awesome. A variety of targets today and have to say this is now my favorite rifle to shoot. The smoke, the kaboom, the big thump when it hits the backboard and the whole primitiveness of it all is exhilarating.

In order of distance although this is not necessarily the order I shot them in:

25 yds, off hand...tried to do it with 1 but it took 2....this is not even a target it is one of those dots for filling target holes, left it on the wood for the pic so you can see no other rounds fired. But I tried one last range trip and could not get it so today I got even.

May 2-21 25 yds off hand.jpg (80.54 KiB) Viewed 1524 times

50 yds off hand, left it on the wood so you can see there were not other rounds fired....

May 2nd 50 yds off hand1.jpeg (76.97 KiB) Viewed 1524 times

50 yds off hand

May 2nd 50 yds off hand.jpeg (74.92 KiB) Viewed 1524 times

50 yds 1 kee....smaller target, I like these little targets quite a bit, they make me dial in

May 2nd 50 yds 1 knee.jpeg (84.63 KiB) Viewed 1524 times

100 yds, 1 knee....pretty happy with this one but the next one is even better....

May 2nd 100 yds.jpeg (85.89 KiB) Viewed 1524 times

200 YARDS...this is from sitting at a bench resting my elbows, base of the front sight almost at the top of the buckhorns....lucky there was no breeze at all when I shot these...think I called it a day after that. Anything close to a bullseye would a wild stroke of luck only. Just happy to hit the paper.

May 2nd 200 yds.jpeg (84.56 KiB) Viewed 1524 times

Great fun today!!!

Shoot safe, RR

May 2-21 Frontier.jpg (84.97 KiB) Viewed 1524 times

[BigAl52]

Nice targets especially the 200 yd. Dont blame you at all on the favorite rifle to shoot as I really am liking shooting black over smokeless anymore.

[RanchRoper]

Now if the beaver will just shine again....

[fortyshooter]

You are definitely one with the gun as in perfectly matched! Fantastic shooting RR!

[Vaquero]

Nice shootin RR.

RP

[RanchRoper]

Thanks guys.....waaaaay too much fun.

[armycat]

Nice shooting! Seeing things like this really makes me want to try blackpowder. Wish it was more common where I am. I actually have a .50 Lyman flintlock kit collecting dust. Really have to get the courage to build it.

[RanchRoper]

Nice shooting! Seeing things like this really makes me want to try blackpowder. Wish it was more common where I am. I actually have a .50 Lyman flintlock kit collecting dust. Really have to get the courage to build it.

PM sent.

[Rifletom]

That is some good shooting! You're getting along with your firearms nicely RR.

[Headhog]

Fantastic shooting RR. I think you've got that rifle zeroed in.

Paul

[North Country Gal]

Fantastic shooting is right. You've even got me thinking of shooting BP, again.

[RanchRoper]

Go for it!

[BigAl52]

Ive seen quite a few rifles sold that would have made a good rifle for NCG. Go for it

[North Country Gal]

My concern, right now, is the availability issue. How hard is it to get percussion caps, lead balls and powder, what with everything else in the regular gun world being such a mess? I used to shoot some inlines with 209 primers, but I suspect getting those would be a nightmare, right now. Way back when we were shooting, we had to drive halfway across the state to get real BP. No issues with the substitutes, though.

The other issue for me is keeping rifle size and weight manageable. Will need to stay with a 32, 36 or a light 45 cal. My days of shooting the big heavy stuff are over.

[Sir Henry]

Great range report. You would have been a survivor even back then.

[RanchRoper]

...not at the speed I load it.

[BigAl52]

My concern, right now, is the availability issue. How hard is it to get percussion caps, lead balls and powder, what with everything else in the regular gun world being such a mess? I used to shoot some inlines with 209 primers, but I suspect getting those would be a nightmare, right now. Way back when we were shooting, we had to drive halfway across the state to get real BP. No issues with the substitutes, though.

The other issue for me is keeping rifle size and weight manageable. Will need to stay with a 32, 36 or a light 45 cal. My days of shooting the big heavy stuff are over.

Lead balls are no problem and caps either in my neck of the woods. The local Scheels has had caps and if you have a Bass Pro or Cabelas around I bet you could find some.

[RanchRoper]

A .32 would be like plinking I think. Good fun.

[bdbrown66]

Good shooting!!

[zara_puppy]

200 yards, iron sights? Tell ya what - I’ve a White Whitetail hunter 97 in .45 cal. A very accurate black powder rifle. Much more accurate than it’s shooter (me). It’s got a 1.5X5 Nikon shotgun slug hunter on top of it. It dumps a 400 grain lead trashcan (as my son calls it) down range at a pretty fair clip. A ton of fun. That said, on a good day I can’t beat that target at 100. WITH A GOOD SCOPE.

Your shooting skill is incredible.